A Promise of Fire

Solid 3 star read.

This is almost exactly what I was in the mood for because it reminds me a lot of the typical fantasy where a woman is escaping her family legacy and is in hiding when something pulls her out and shenanigans ensues. I wasn't expecting the main romantic interest to be introduced so early on in the story and the catalyst to propell the protagonist out of hiding to be something as flimsy as a magic rope. The romance built up fairly quickly (which was surprising only because I was thinking this would be more fantasy than fantasy/romance) but the main couple did make a solid match.

While the characters' banter was funny and enjoyable, there were the typical plot holes where the protagonist doesn't use any of her god-fearing powers to escape because she's too captivated with her captors, the predictable “tension” because the protagonist can't let herself fall in love with the romantic interest because she doesn't want to put him in danger, etc. The author doesn't bring anything new to this narrative besides a different decoration to mask the world-building and political intrigue.

I won't be continuing on with this series, as there wasn't anything memorable about it since it reminded of so many woman-led fantasies I've read previously, and none of the characters were more than their roles.